


Hope Chest

by Morgana



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-07
Updated: 2014-12-07
Packaged: 2018-02-28 11:23:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2730641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morgana/pseuds/Morgana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some things are years in the making</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hope Chest

It started with a blanket. Pure Yorkshire wool, spun into a thread that was the perfect thickness for knitting, lined with scraps of white silk from her sister's wedding dress. She'd made it herself, every stitch set with care, and it was far better than most ten-year-olds could ever do, but then she'd always had nimble fingers. It took a year to finish, and when she was done, she folded it up and put it into the cedar chest that her father had given her for Christmas.

The tablecloth was next, a great length of snowy white linen embroidered with a chain of holly for Christmas, which was her favorite season. She had enough left to make napkins, too, one for each of the twelve days of Christmas. Her brother carved special napkin rings to go with them, cunning little birds and crowns and rings, each a unique treasure. Once he was done, the rings were tucked into the napkins, which were in turn neatly folded and laid in the chest atop the carefully placed tablecloth.

For several years after that, she didn't give the chest or its contents another thought. But then she met Andrew, and he started to call on her every Thursday night and after church on Sundays. After three months, her mother suggested that she begin to think about what she might need to make her home. Immediately, she thought of sheets, and then blushed as she thought about what might happen between those sheets. She continued to blush the entire time she hemmed the huge expanse of linen and as she embroidered flowers along the top and on the pillowcases as well. Two pillowcases, one for her and one for him, and the thought of lying beside him in the darkness made her ache with a strange new desire, particularly since Andrew was coming three times a week by then.

Andrew proposed on a Sunday afternoon stroll, and she began to piece a quilt the next day. It was supposed to be simple, a basic Irish Chain of blue and white, but as the wedding preparations began to spiral out of control, with Mother fretting about guests and Father complaining of the cost, it became her special project. After wedding dress and trousseau fittings, the quilt offered her a chance to sit down and concentrate on stitching the quilt that would cover her bed for all the nights of her marriage. It was an oasis of calm that she took with her through the steadily increasing chaos that surrounded her wedding, and when she drew it out of the chest to show Andrew, her eyes were shining with pride and love, just as his had shone when he'd ushered her through the door of the home he'd found for them.

As much as she longed to start on the next project, she forced herself to wait. To begin early would only tempt fate and call bad luck on them, so she contented herself with stitching another set of table linens and then samplers and a second quilt while she waited. It was three years before she received the joyous news and she could begin work on the long white dress. She tatted the lace for the collar and cuffs, embroidering her initials under one half of the collar and Andrew's under the other, and as her confinement progressed, she made a bonnet as well, soft linen and lace to frame a sweet baby face that increasingly filled her thoughts.

Her pains began in the middle of the night, sending Andrew running frantically for the doctor, and in the soft gray hours just before dawn, their family became a reality. Anne watched the doctor hand the squalling infant to the nurse to bathe, her arms already aching to hold him. She was pleased to be able to present Andrew with the boy she knew he wanted, and even more pleased when the doctor left and she was able to scoop the warm little body up out of the bassinet, wrap the white knitted blanket around him as she carried him to the rocking chair by the window, where she settled down to smile and whisper, "Hello, William," down at her sweet boy. And the joy she felt when wide blue eyes blinked up at her was like nothing she'd ever known before.

As she set about feeding her son for the first time, Anne glanced at the chest at the foot of the bed and smiled. Hopefully there would be many more children to delight in, children that would wear the christening gown she would soon dress William in, sweet babies that would sleep under quilts and blankets that she would continue to make for them. And one day... perhaps one day she would pass the chest along to her daughter to take to her new home. Or if not, then maybe William's bride would accept it as a gift to welcome her into their family and bless her union; the chest had blessed Anne with first Andrew and now William, and she was sure that all of them would lead the happiest of lives as a result, so the thought of passing that blessing along was a precious one.

A faint snuffle from her son drew her attention, and Anne smiled as she looked down at him, stroking one finger over his downy cheek. "You're going to do great things," she whispered to him. And she didn't doubt for one second that he would. Her boy was going to change the world, she was certain of that.


End file.
